Notifications in 2014

6/2014 Swedish housing association awards major timber construction contractSwedish housing association Rikshem Ab has signed a major contract with the northern Swedish timber construction company Lindbäcks Bygg, Piteå, to build 2,000 rental flats across the country over the next five years. The volume of the order is estimated at SEK 2 billion (equivalent to around EUR 220 million). The contract includes an option for a further 500 units. The rental flats are to be built in the country's urban centres, primarily in the capital region and the Öresund region in the south, where there is a housing shortage. Lindbäcks Bygg is a family business that was founded in 1924 as a village sawmill and generated sales of SEK 600 million in 2013 with around 200 employees. Lindbäcks started building industrially prefabricated wooden apartment blocks 20 years ago.
(Source: Holzbau Deutschland-Institut e. V.)

3/2014 large sustainable construction areas in Germany:

Munich Freiham on 350 hectares with residential space for 20,000 and commercial space for 7,500 people. The aim is sustainable urban development that fulfils economic, ecological and social requirements in equal measure
Würzburg Hubland with 95 ha, CO2-neutral and for 4,500 inhabitants

2/2014 Fuel cells: The world's largest fuel cell park has gone into operation in South Korea. The plant was built by the American company Fuelcell Energy in Hwaseong City. With an output of 59 megawatts, the plant converts natural gas into electricity and heat and is said to be particularly efficient. (Bloomberg)
.

Europe's largest ecological neighbourhood is being built in France
A sustainable neighbourhood is to be built on more than 200 hectares for 30,000 private individuals in Montreuil, France. The neighbourhood is part of a new development area covering a total of 892 hectares and is being funded with 3.5 million euros from the NQU initiative (Nouveaux Quartiers Urbains = New Urban Districts).
www.montreuil.fr/grands-projets/les-hauts-de-montreuil

1/2014 New book publication by Rob Hopkins: "Simple. Now. Do!" Hopkins is the founder of the Transition Towns movement
www.oekom.de/buecher/vorschau/buch/einfach-jetzt-machen.html

Keywords: DE-News

Published 30 March 2021

Sustainability Council launches "Sustainable Municipality Reporting Framework

"Municipalities are crucial drivers for the sustainable development of our society," explains Dr. Werner Schnappauf, Chairman of the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE). "All 17 sustainability goals are directly or indirectly related to the tasks of a municipality. The new reporting framework sustainable municipality, the BNK, can be a great help for further progress in the field of sustainability", says Schnappauf.

From the municipal side, there has long been great interest in a tool for good sustainability reporting. Many municipalities have already developed sustainability strategies, for example within the framework of the project "Globally Sustainable Municipality" of the Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW) of Engagement Global. However, until now there has been no instrument to evaluate the implementation of the strategies and to adjust them if necessary. The Dialogue "Sustainable City represented mayors have therefore asked the RNE in 2019 to develop a reporting system that can build on the German Sustainability Code (DNK) for companies. In response, the Sustainability Council, together with the mayors represented in the "Sustainable City" dialogue, the Regional Sustainability Strategy Network (RENN) and a large number of other stakeholders, has developed a "Sustainable Community Reporting Framework" (BNK).

"Based on my many years of experience as a district administrator, it is particularly important to me that the RNE represents an offer for all municipalities and is thus also available to districts. We are pleased that the RNE has also been cooperating closely with the districts since last year," said Schnappauf.

"As municipalities, we are implementing the transformation to sustainability" emphasizes Markus Lewe, Council Member, Lord Mayor of the City of Münster and Vice-President of the German Association of Cities, in the foreword to the BNK handout. "Overall, the BNK focuses on process orientation. It is not about evaluating results or comparing municipalities with each other. It is about moving forward together and the many steps on the way to more sustainability," said Lewe.

The BNK will be tested in joint projects with SKEW and many RENN partners from March 2021. The city of Aschaffenburg will be the first of probably 20 pilot municipalities from all over Germany to prepare its own sustainability report based on the BNK. The kick-off for the Aschaffenburg sustainability report was yesterday's city council meeting. "The city of Aschaffenburg sees itself as a municipality with the responsibility to perform all its tasks in terms of sustainability and thus to be a role model. This responsibility is seen as a cross-sectional task in the administration and the council, in which all citizens also participate, and has a long tradition in Aschaffenburg," said Jürgen Herzing, Lord Mayor of the City of Aschaffenburg and member of the RNE's "Sustainable City" dialogue.

The experiences from the 20 pilot municipalities will be incorporated into the further development of the reporting framework. The publication "Reporting framework for sustainable municipalities" is now available at here.

Source: PM of the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) of 4.3.2021

Keywords:
DE-News, SDG 2030, City, Environmental policy

ADFC assures cities of support